Summer snow in January surprises Hawke’s Bay as temperatures drop

Residents in Hawke’s Bay lit their fires and dressed for winter after a coating of snow fell in the ranges.

But the white stuff won’t last long and summer will return, MetService says.

Cold weather delivered a white coat to the top of the Ruahine and Kaweka ranges on Sunday, which are normally only sprinkled for the first time each year in April.

The snow is expected to soon disappear due to the rain in the coming week, a MetService spokesman said.

“It is likely to stick around for a bit longer, but it is quite hard to say for how many days, and I suspect it won’t be visible for too much longer.”

Amy Edmonds was one of many who captured the unusual weather from her deck in Ongaonga and said she felt a drop in the temperature.

“A month ago we were worried about a drought in our area, after a few weeks of rain and now snow on the ranges things changed extremely fast.”

The Ruahine Range from Ongaonga, covered with snow in January. Photo / Amy Edmonds

She said on Monday snow could still be seen on the range and the “wind was freezing”.

Sue Blackburn also had her fire burning to keep warm in Ashley Clinton and snapped a photo of the snow on Sunday which she described as stunning and unexpected for January.

“It was about 7C when I took the photo and the snow stayed most of the day.”

MetService meteorologist Luis Fernandes said the snow had been caused by low pressure and cool southerly air.

“It’s a combination of that low moving through and cold southerly air pushing in and it just getting cold enough for a little bit of snow to fall in that area.”

He said the spring-like conditions across the country were unusual for the summer months, and described the weather as a “dynamic situation”.

“Things change quite quickly from one day to the next and in turn, we have systems moving through relatively quickly which is a pattern we tend to see in winter and spring especially.”

Fernandes said the temperatures were below average for this time of year and the region would usually have more settled and warmer weather.

“The atmosphere is not playing along in New Zealand at the moment.”

Sue Blackburn could see the snow on the Ruahine Range from her home in Ashley Clinton. Photo / Sue Blackburn

The lowest temperature recorded in Hawke’s Bay on Sunday was in Te Pohue with a low of 7C and a high of 13.7C.

Napier and Hastings had slightly warmer temperatures with a high of 17.8C in Napier and 17.5C in Hastings and a low of 10.3C in Napier and 10.5C in Hastings.

Takapau in Central Hawke’s Bay reached a high of 14.3C with a low of 7.8C.

Fernandes said he didn’t expect the snow to be the end of summer, with six to seven weeks left of the official summer period.

“We can’t say with any certainty that it definitely won’t happen again in the next month or two especially with the situation being so changeable.”

He said there was still time for “some longer dry sunnier and warmer spells”.

For the week ahead, Fernandes said Hawke’s Bay could expect to have the wet and cooler weather to hang around.

North of Hawke’s Bay a heavy rain watch was issued for Wairoa from 7am on Monday to 3am on Tuesday.

“There is a possibility that we could continue to see some heavier rainfall reaching an excess of 50mm from now to early Tuesday morning.”

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.